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On March 1 at ONE 166: Qatar, Joshua Pacio reclaimed his ONE strawweight MMA world title in the unlikeliest of scenarios: a disqualification. It was a bizarre ending to an otherwise much-anticipated rematch between Pacio and his rival, now-former world titleholder Jarred Brooks.
The end came when Brooks managed to lock Joshua Pacio in a back clinch - similar to a bear hug from behind - then proceeded to lift him in the air and slam him to his side.
The error came in when Brooks overshot the rotation of Pacio's body, resulting in him inadvertently slamming 'The Passion' head-first on the mat. The Filipino MMA icon was quite immobile after and 'The Monkey God' proceeded to rain down punches on him.
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Initially, Brooks thought he won via TKO, but was soon given the bad news that he got disqualified due to the illegal spike/slam. If you see it on replay, you'd be surprised at how Pacio managed to stay conscious after being literally slammed on top of his head with full force.
It seems 'The Passion' has a guardian upstairs that kept him relatively safe that night. In an interview with The MMA Superfan on YouTube, Joshua Pacio revealed what may have saved his life that night:
"All I can say is I'm always protected by God. What you saw in this fight, [how I recovered from the slam] was the highlight of the fight. It's not about winning the belt back. It's how I was protected by God from harm."
Watch the full interview here:
Jarred Brooks was apologetic to Joshua Pacio and team for the accidental slam
Despite their rivalry being one of the most heated in ONE Championship history, Jarred Brooks showed compassion and concern for his rival after the bout.
The American wrestling specialist took to social media and in person to express his apologies to Pacio and his team for the unfortunate accident:
Since Pacio is okay and all issues has been resolved, this could only mean one thing: an immediate third fight. The anticipation for their third bout would be through the roof as fans will need a definitive conclusion to this epic rivalry.
